1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus such as a facsimile receiver and, more particularly, to a recording apparatus for recording information on a recording medium by applying ink to selected portions of the recording medium from an ink film.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Several methods for printing information on recording paper are well known in the art. Some examples include ink-jet printing, laser-beam printing, and thermal transfer printing. Since the recording apparatus for carrying out thermal transfer printing generally is smaller in size than other recording apparatus, a thermal transfer recording apparatus often is used as a facsimile apparatus. Typical thermal transfer recording apparatus are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,053 issued on Apr. 21, 1987 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,270 issued on Jan. 5, 1988.
A typical thermal transfer recording apparatus is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In the typical apparatus, recording paper C is unrolled from a roll of recording paper and transported past thermal recording head E upon rotation of platen roller D. Ink film B is unrolled from an ink film feeding roll and transported past thermal recording head E via a guide roller upon rotation of an ink film take-up roll. Ink film B is transported simultaneously with recording paper C. Ink film B and recording paper C are interposed between thermal recording head E and platen roller D, and ink film B is pressed against thermal recording head E.
Thermal recording head E generates heat in response to recording information from an information signal source. The solid ink in ink film B is fused by the generated heat and transferred to recording paper C. Thus, a thermal transfer recording is carried out.
Recording paper C then is transported to cutter device J through separating plate H and lower guide plate I, and ink film B is transported and rolled round an ink film take-up roll via guide roller G. Separating plate H is positioned closely adjacent guide roller G to separate recording paper C from ink film B. As shown in FIG. 2, guide roller G comprises two sizes of rollers including side rollers G1 and G2 and center roller G3. The diameter of side rollers G1 and G2 is greater than the diameter of center roller G3 to prevent ink film from wrinkling by using wide rollers G1 and G2 to stretch the ink film toward both sides.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the typical thermal recording apparatus, separating edge H' of separating plate H is straight. As a result, gap K3 between center roller G3 and separating plate H is wider than gap K1 and K2 between side rollers G1 and G2 and separating plate H. When the position of separating plate H is adjusted closer to guide roller G to improve the separation of recording paper C and ink film B, gap K3 is not narrowed as much as gaps K1 and K2. Since gap K3 cannot be narrowed as much as gaps K1 and K2, and since recording paper C in the vicinity of gap K3 adheres to ink film B due to the presence of fused ink during the thermal transfer recording operation, recording paper C often clogs gap K3.